This invention is concerned with a dead plate arrangement of a glassware forming machine comprising a perforated dead plate above which a newly-moulded glassware article can be supported to be cooled and on which the article can be placed for subsequent removal from the machine, and cooling means operable to cause air to flow past the article to cool it while the article is supported above the dead plate.
Known machines which manufacture articles of glassware have a mechanism which grips newly-moulded articles of glassware and lifts them away from the moulds in which they have been formed. This mechanism which is called a take-out mechanism moves the articles to a position a short distance above a so-called dead plate of the machine. The articles cannot at this stage be placed on the dead plate because they are as yet too hot and require to cool before they can be released on to the dead plate. In order to accelerate the cooling of the articles, the dead plate is perforated and cooling air is blown upwardly through the dead plate on to the articles so that the air flows past the articles cooling them. Once the articles are sufficiently cool, they are released on to the dead plate allowing the take-out mechanism to return to fetch further articles. The articles are subsequently removed from the dead plate by a "wipe-out" mechanism which pushes them off the dead plate and on to a conveyor. Once on the conveyor, the articles are, in many cases, coated with a fluid which lubricates their movements in further operations and protects them from damage. This coating is applied by spraying the articles as they are moved by the conveyor.
In the known machines mentioned above, the air blown through the dead plate generates considerable noise and this combined with the heat absorbed by the air makes the region of the dead plate an unpleasant working environment. Further more, the operation of cooling means has to be stopped or greatly reduced when the articles are released on to the dead plate lest they be blown off the dead plate.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a dead plate arrangement in which the noise and heat in the region of the dead plate are reduced and the cooling means can continue to operate after the article has been placed on the dead plate without risk of displacing the article.